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Square Foot Gardening

Cubic Feet per 40 or 50lb bag of compost

17 years ago

About how many cubic feet are there in a 40 or 50 pound bag of compost? I know this number will vary some, but I keep coming up with big ranges.

Featured Answer

justaguy2

17 years ago

It definitely will vary. It will vary based upon water content when it was packaged. Water weighs more than dry compost by volume so the percentage of water in the compost will have the most significant effect.

When possible it is best to buy ingredients by volume rather than weight, but the providers of many products don't play nice.

To be very generic I would say 50lbs of compost would be anywhere from (trying to think of comparisons here...) 2 cu feet if water logged to 10 cu feet if dry.

I do realize I am not helping, but that's the problem with variable moisture content when buying by weight instead of by volume.

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Comments (6)

justaguy2
17 years ago
on a more helpful note, if you know the rough dimensions of the bag you wish to by, I can help you convert it to volume in sq ft.
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joggingsloth
7 years ago
Okay I need to know about a 16''x3''x36''
Chase Davis
3 years ago
1 cubic foot.
mindshift
3 years ago
Most bagged compost, garden or potting soil, and mulch have the cubic foot amount listed on the bag. Sand and gravel are heavy and the quantity is usually listed by weight only, though a few may list cubic foot coverage. Click on the green words to see photos. If cubic footage is not listed, lay the bag flat and measure the top length (A) and width (B), then the height of one side (C). Multiply A x B x C to get the approximate cubic inches. Then divide by 1728 (the number of cubic inches in a cubic foot) to get cubic feet. For instance, a bag that is 18" long by 12" wide by 3" thick equals 648 cubic inches. Divide by 1728 to see that this size of bag holds a maximum of 0.375 cubic feet, or just over 1/3 cubic foot.
Captain Jay
2 years ago
Some of them list the coverage as well, Home Depot 40lb bag of cow manure compost lists coverage of 8 sqft at 2 in deep which would give (8’x(1/6)’= 1.333) 1 & 1/3 cuft

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